Finding Joy in Simplicity

Does your daily routine, diet, and overall lifestyle support your health and wellbeing?

When we don’t nourish ourselves with healthy food, restful sleep, regular exercise, a daily spiritual practice such as meditation or journaling, and other mind-body healing habits, we will inevitably feel tired, out of balance, irritable, and sometimes even depressed.

There exists within each of us a natural state of simple and open awareness in which we feel happy, light, and at peace. Finding joy in simplicity.

In contrast, the state of suffering or unhappiness is complicated. Complications take many forms, including an imbalanced lifestyle, toxic relationships, hidden emotional debts, resistance, indecision, addictions, and negative conditioned beliefs.

When our life is overly complicated, we’re weighed down by superfluous things at every level. We can begin to let go of the complications that cause us to suffer by cultivating a simple state of awareness.

In this process, tiny steps yield big results, in part because simplicity is nature’s default position.

Suffering and the complications that fuel it are unnatural; it wastes energy to maintain complexity.

As you focus on simplifying your life, make sure that your approach to the process is a loving and accepting one. Know that you are now doing all that you can do right now, and that is all anyone can do.

When you stay in the moment, you have all the time in the world and whatever needs to be done will be completed in the exact right time.

For the next few weeks, sit by yourself for at least five minutes each day with the intention to clear away complications.

In the time you set aside for this clearing, determine what area you need to focus on the most and work on that.

It may be one of the complications mentioned above or a different area that is preventing you from experiencing a state of peaceful simplicity.

Start by thinking of the smallest possible action you could take—and then take it. Then choose the next smallest action, and do that. The action can truly be as small as opening your closet drawer to see.

If you enjoy what you’re doing in the here and now, you can find serenity in even the most mundane task. If you really give it your attention and do it mindfully.

If you want to take a bigger action why not look at your commitments.

Is your calendar filled with activities and obligations? Are you rushing from one activity to another leaving you with no time to slow down, observe and let things happen?

No matter how worthy you think your commitments are, perhaps it is time to rethink and prioritise them.

Keep the ones that are most important and eliminate the ones that are adding to the hectic pace of your life with little return.

Do you want to create more free time?

If you spend hours each week cleaning house, see if you can do a little less and have more free time.

Eliminating clutter from your home will make it easier to clean.  Once you’ve created more free time, fill it with activities that develop your inner self.

Spend some time alone and spend some with the people you care about most

What aspects of your lifestyle would you like to transform to bring you greater health and happiness?

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